86 
SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
Here’s flowers for you ; 
Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram. 
Winter's Tale , IV. iv. 103 ; 
and in Loves Labour s Lost, V. ii. 662 , “ that mint.” 
The mints ( Mentha ) constitute a difficult group in 
a difficult order (the Labiates), but many very strik¬ 
ing and handsome species occur among our fourteen 
natives. There are the true peppermint ( Mentha 
piperita, L., var. officinalis ) and the two water mints, 
the pubescens of Willd., and the hirsuta of Hudson, 
formerly included under the name aquatica, L. A 
variety of the last is the bergamot of the rustics. 
Pennyroyal, still used in medicine, is also a mint 
(M. Pulegium, L.). These were probably all known 
to Shakespeare, and many others. Red garden 
mint, crosse or curled mint, speare and cat mint, 
great cat mint, horse or water mint, sweet water 
mint, and calamint, were all cultivated by Gerard 
(“ Herbal/’ p. 552). 
The last plant to consider this month is the curious 
samphire, a close relative, though one would never 
believe it, of the fennel. It grows on maritime 
rocks, where its fleshy stems and leaves are 
gathered to pickle.* It has small flowers with no 
calyx and minute petals borne in little umbels. This 
plant ( Crithmum maritimum, L.) is dedicated to St. 
Peter, from which, obviously enough, its name 
is derived. The trade was once of considerable 
importance, but the pickle has gone out of fashion 
in the last thirty years. The danger of samphire¬ 
gathering is told us in our only quotation : 
Half-way down 
Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade ! 
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head. 
King Lear , IV. vi. 14. 
* The glass-worts were used when true samphire was un¬ 
attainable, 
